When it was time to wake up, Habin opened his eyes with a flash and immediately felt his stomach churning. He reflexively covered his mouth.
“You awake?”
Dojin, who had been leaning against the headboard looking at his phone, noticed the movement and turned his gaze to Habin. Putting down his phone, he clicked his tongue inwardly at how pale Habin looked.
“Want some hangover relief?”
“Yeah, quick.”
Finishing his words in rapid-fire succession, Habin covered his mouth again. He really felt like he was going to throw up. Even his head hurt like it was going to split—his body wasn’t normal.
If he’d only drunk somaek it would be one thing, but the hangover was stronger than usual, probably because he’d drunk wine too, saying he wanted to drink more. Dojin moved carefully to avoid stimulating Habin, who was making groaning sounds, and handed him the hangover relief he’d prepared in advance.
“She made bean sprout soup before she left. Let’s eat a little later.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Habin nodded while slowly chewing the jelly-type hangover relief, then grabbed his forehead. He’d forgotten that moving carelessly would only make it hurt.
“I really feel like I’m dying.”
Pretending to cry, he clung with a smack to Kwon Dojin’s leg. Dojin slowly stroked Habin’s back while forcing himself to swallow his nagging. When he’d tried to stop him yesterday, Habin hadn’t even pretended to listen.
“Let’s just rest at home today.”
“But—we were supposed to go see a movie today.”
Dojin didn’t hide his surprise that Habin remembered. Habin, who couldn’t see his face with his eyebrows jumping up, just rubbed his face against Dojin’s thigh, praying for the hangover to go away as soon as possible.
Wrapped snugly in the fluffy blanket, Habin pressed his cheek against the warm skin. While taking deep breaths and trying to settle his churning stomach, he poked at Dojin’s silent skin with his index finger.
“You remembered?”
“Of course I remember. I was the one who suggested going. Was it about a week ago?”
At Habin’s answer, Dojin tilted his head, realizing something was off. Of course, that was only for a moment—he figured out the situation on his own well enough. He knew about Habin’s unique drunk habit of remembering some conversations he’d had while drunk and forgetting others.
“Anyway, let’s book tickets. You haven’t yet, right?”
“I didn’t because I thought you might not be feeling well, Habin.”
“Mm… I’m not feeling great.”
It was true that he felt like dying from the hangover, but he didn’t want to break the date promise he’d brought up first a week ago. And besides, the hangover would probably get better in just an hour or two, wouldn’t it?
“You really want to?”
“Yeah, really. But book it for evening time.”
Dojin moved only after seeing him nod readily at the repeated question. After finishing the booking for the movie with the best reviews among those showing after 6 PM at the theater they always went to, he showed Habin the phone screen.
“Ah, this movie. The trailer looked interesting when I saw it. Are the reviews good?”
“The best among recent releases.”
Habin, who knew very well Dojin’s criteria for choosing movies, nodded without complaint. He tended to like movies so he watched whatever well, and going to the theater wasn’t important because of the movie itself but as a pretense for dating, so anything was fine.
Going to see movies at the theater was just one of the date courses for Habin, who preferred静的 things over active ones.
“Are you more awake now?”
“Yeah… I’m awake.”
Having woken up his somewhat hazy mind while conversing, Habin habitually let out a yawn. Then when he stretched both arms up overhead, Dojin massaged his forearms for him.
“I must have slept wrong yesterday. My back hurts.”
Habin, who sat up against the headboard with Dojin’s help, bent his back slightly and patted his lower back. Dojin, who was patting it the same way following along, inwardly agreed.
It was because he’d been kicked by Habin’s feet several times during the night. Habin’s sleeping habits became terrible whenever he drank, but the person himself didn’t know that.
“What time is it now?”
“2 o’clock.”
“Huh?”
Thinking he’d misheard, Habin asked again, then pressed his forehead thanks to Dojin lightly laughing and holding up his phone showing the current time.
“I wasted the whole day.”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Now that you mention it, I think I might be.”
More precisely, his stomach felt empty. Habin smacked his lips with a tsk, feeling hollow even though he wasn’t hungry. He got off the bed past Dojin, planning to go to the bathroom first, and did some brief stretching.
“But Dojin, you didn’t wait for me this whole time without eating anything, did you?”
“It wouldn’t be right to eat alone.”
At his words meaning he’d waited until Habin woke up, Habin’s eyes went round. After opening and closing his lips, Habin soon headed to the kitchen.
“I’ll heat up the soup.”
Rather than asking why he’d waited so foolishly, it was much better to move as quickly as possible in that time. Seeing the back of Habin moving quickly with quick steps, Dojin burst out with a clear laugh.
* * *
After emptying two bowls of bean sprout soup and finishing light exercise at home led by Dojin, Habin completely recovered his condition. As a finishing touch, after playing in the water with Dojin in the large bathtub and properly loosening his muscles, his mood was very good, unlike when he’d woken up.
“You need to dry your hair properly.”
“It won’t be a big deal if I do it later.”
“It’s still cold, you might catch a cold.”
Caught by Dojin, Habin could only escape after his hair was moderately dried with a soft towel and blow-dried. In fact, even though he grumbled with his mouth, he really liked Dojin doing the bothersome tasks for him. The affectionate touch caressing his hair felt good too.
“Should we leave a little early and go for a drive?”
“Then let’s go eat pudding. You know that place Baek Han told me about last time. It looked delicious.”
After going into his private message chat with Baek Han to look for the pudding shop name, he caught Dojin’s somewhat sullen expression and thought, oops.
“There was no talk about it in the group chat.”
“Well, you don’t really like things like pudding, do you?”
More precisely, he’d eat it if it was there, and sometimes ate it if he thought of it, but he didn’t go out of his way to find better ones to eat. So he didn’t dislike it, but didn’t like it that much either—that kind of thing.
“Isn’t it the same for Baek Han though?”
For how much Baek Han and Dojin found each other distasteful, they really knew a lot about each other. Habin thought it was quite remarkable and answered.
“The person he’s been talking to lately likes that kind of thing.”
“Talking to?”
At the reaction like it was the first time hearing this, Habin tilted his head slightly. Had Baek Han not told Dojin about that?
“Him?”
Seeing Dojin smile with his lips curling up, Habin understood why Baek Han hadn’t mentioned it. These guys really don’t get along, huh.
“I heard it’s the same school. Different colleges though?”
“You didn’t hear the details?”
“I didn’t think I needed to? I figured he’d tell me later if they started dating.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Dojin nodded then soon acted disinterested. Habin could only laugh, knowing that even though he acted like that on the outside, he’d have a private message conversation with Baek Han later.
“Anyway, if we’re leaving early, let’s go eat pudding. Hm?”
“Alright, let’s go.”
Since Dojin was the one driving, when Habin asked him pleadingly, he nodded readily. He’d been thinking he should go sometime since he was secretly curious about the taste, so the timing worked out well.
“You’re going to eat popcorn at the theater, right?”
“I want to eat butter squid today.”
“Okay. Actually, I was wondering if we’d eat dinner.”
“We probably won’t, right? We ate lunch at 3.”
Thinking about eating pudding and popcorn on top of that, it would be hard to eat dinner. Unless it was a late-night snack. Dojin seemed to be thinking similarly and just nodded without saying much.
“We should leave now if we’re going to eat pudding, right?”
Habin, who had checked the map to see how long it would take, tugged on Dojin’s sleeve to get his attention. Dojin bent down to look at the small screen and gauged the time for a moment.
“We should.”
“Then let’s go since we’re already dressed.”
The two grabbed their wallets, phones, and various other things before leaving the house early. In the weather that was still cold enough to be chilly, being March, Dojin fastened Habin’s clothes tightly.
“It’s fine since we’ll get in the car right away.”
“Still. The underground parking lot is cold.”
While raising his arms slightly to match Dojin’s actions, he clicked his tongue. He cooperated obediently knowing that Dojin would do it even if he tried to stop him, but it was still excessive as always.
“Look at you though.”
Unlike himself who was thoroughly dressed in a long padding coat with the hood up, Dojin was only wearing a coat. The coat wasn’t thin, but it was still lighter compared to padding, so Habin pouted.
Eventually, Habin let out a light sigh and took off the neck warmer he was wearing. He grabbed Dojin’s shoulders to make him bend down and wrapped the warmer, warm from his own body heat, around him.
“You’re more sensitive to the cold, Habin.”
“That’s why I’m wearing padding unlike you. It’s fine so you wear it.”
Habin grabbed Kwon Dojin’s hand to stop him from trying to take it off and give it back, then when the elevator door happened to open, he pulled him and hurried to where the car was. Since the car would be in the usual parking spot, there was no hesitation in his steps.
There was also the intention of deliberately walking busily to divert attention elsewhere before Dojin could hand the warmer back to him.
“Huh? Where’s the car?”
The moment the flustered Habin turned around because the car wasn’t in its usual spot, Dojin bent down and kissed him. When Habin blinked vacantly after having his lips suddenly stolen, Dojin whispered with a light smile.
“Thank you.”
At Dojin’s appearance, smiling prettily while being happy at such a simple action, Habin thought in a daze:
Even though he’s my boyfriend, he looks so handsome I never get tired of it.
They get more precious with each chapter